With just two months remaining until its release, Marvel unveils new Black Panther: Wakanda Forever footage, teasing how the titular country is left vulnerable after T'Challa's death. The Marvel Cinematic Universe sequel will find Angela Bassett's Queen Ramonda, Letitia Wright's Shuri and Lupita Nyong'o's Nakia as they mourn the death of Chadwick Boseman's T'Challa. Their time of grief is upended when invading forces try to take control of Wakanda, requiring a new person to don the mantle of the Black Panther.
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Development on Black Panther: Wakanda Forever was memorably hampered by the real-word death of Boseman from colon cancer, with the actor providing his final T'Challa performance in Disney+'s What If…?, for which he earned a posthumous Emmy. Co-writer/director Ryan Coogler had to rework his plans for the MCU sequel, with the first trailer screened at this year's San Diego Comic-Con confirming T'Challa's death would lead to an unrevealed character taking over as the next Black Panther. While audiences eagerly await the film, they're indirectly getting new insight for Black Panther: Wakanda Forever.
As part of the studio's D23 Expo panel, which Screen Rant attended, Marvel has unveiled new Black Panther: Wakanda Forever footage. The footage shown for the MCU sequel teases how Wakanda is left vulnerable in the wake of T'Challa's death, with various groups trying to steal Vibranium from the country while Namor is shown upset about being exposed to the public. Check out the footage description for Black Panther: Wakanda Forever below:
Ramonda arrives as a UN meeting about Wakanda not sharing info on Vibranium, France is worries it’s creating weapons of mass destruction. Ramonda says it’s their policy not to divulge any secrets not because of the dangerous potential of Vibranium but because “of the dangerous potential of you”. She is referred to as “her majesty,” don’t know if that’s different from before, but she says “the king is dead. The Black Panther is gone. They have lost their protector.” But then out come the Dora Milaje to protect the scientists from getting attacked, because white mercenaries are trying to steal Vibranium. Then the Wakandans haul the mercenaries in front of everyone to show they still have force. Shows not-Atlantis, the new thing they’re called and someone (Namor?) says “you’ve exposed us to the world” and we get several shots of their world and fighting.
While the new Black Panther: Wakanda Forever footage may not offer any insight for who will take over as the MCU hero, it does offer some interesting teases of the socially conscious storytelling of the sequel. Much like its predecessor, the footage description points towards a further expansion of Wakanda's distrust of the rest of the world, with Ramonda still hesitant to open their border to other countries. Interestingly, this contradicts the ending of the original Black Panther movie, with T'Challa memorably addressing the United Nations with his plans to be more open to working with the rest of the world.
Given the prior trailer pointed towards Ramonda being angrily upset as much about T'Challa's death as she is heartbroken, it does raise the question of why she is going back on his promises in the Black Panther: Wakanda Forever footage. With no confirmation as to how T'Challa dies prior to the sequel, it seems possible they write him off as having been murdered, thus driving Ramonda to close the borders to Wakanda once again in order to protect what remains of her family and people. Only time will tell when Black Panther: Wakanda Forever hits theaters on November 11.